Seed-grader.



G. C. LEACH.

SEED GRADER.

I APPLICA TION FILED JUNE 13, I916. 1,222,11 1

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Patented Apr. 10, 1917.

- G. C. LEACH.

' SEED GRADER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 13, I916.

1,222, l 1 1 Patented Apr. 10, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

awuaw coz GROVER C. LEAGH, OF BANGS, TEXAS.

SEED-GRADER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 10, 1917.

Application filed. June 13, 1916. Serial No. 103,486.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnovna O. LEACH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bangs, in the county of Brown and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seed-Graders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to seed graders and has for its object the provision of a simple, inexpensive, durable and efficient machine by the use of which seeds may be graded according to their sizes and all seeds of the same commercial value brought together.

Specifically, the invention seeks to provide a machine in which an air blast may be utilized to aid the seeds in seeking their proper compartments and by which the dissipation and loss of the air blast will be prevented.

The invention also seeks to provide simple means for operating the machine and to so arrange the several parts that repairs may be easily made when necessary.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and consists in certain novel features which will be pointed out in the claims following the detailed description.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation, partly broken away, of a machine embodying my improvements;

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical section of the same;

Fig. 3 is a plan view;

Fig. 4 is anend View;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view of the spout;

Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of the agitator employed in the hopper.

Fig. 8 is a detail perspective view.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a frame consisting of side bars or beams 1, an end bar 2 connecting the same, and suitable legs 3 for supporting the same. The side bars are extended beyond the legs at one end of the frame and upon these extended portions I erect standards or brackets 4 by which a. hopper 5 is supported. A fan casing 6 is mounted upon the frame adjacent the said hopper and in the said casing is a fan 7 the inlet 8 of the said casing being located at the axial center of the same and outlets 9 and 10 being provided for said casing at diametrically opposite points, the

lower outlet spout 9 directing an air blast across the lower end or mouth of the hopper, while the outlet 10 directs an air blast longitudinally of the machine between the reticulated cylinder 11 and the cover 12 extending over the same. Below the hopper 5, I secure between the side bars 1 a spout or trough 13 which is inclined downwardly and forwardly so as to deliver the seed deposited therein into the cylinder 11. The trough is provided with a door 14 in its bottom which may be slidably mounted in any convenient or preferred manner and is intended to be opened to permit the discharge of seeds which it is desired to prevent passing into the cylinder. A screen 15 is mounted within the trough or spout and is suspended by links or bails 16 having their extremities pivotally journaled in the side bars 1 and having their intermediate portions passing below and across the screen and held thereto by lugs 17. A crank arm 18 is journaled upon the side bars and is pivotally engaged in one side of the screen so that if the said crank be oscillated, the screen will be reciprocated and seeds deposited thereon agitated. This screen is provided with a foraminous bottom, as indicated at 19 in Fig. 6, and is intended to separate one kind of seed from another as, for instance, it frequently happens that oats and wheat are commingled and it is, of course, desirable that the oats should not pass with the wheat into the grading cylinder. The mixture of seeds is placed in the hopper and will flow therefrom onto the screen 15. The wheat will be permitted to pass through the screen into the spout or trough above the door 14 which is left open when the "screen 15 is in use. The wheat will escape by way of the door 14: into any convenient receptacle while the oats will work over the end of the screen and drop into the trough below the door lat and, consequently, will be directed into the cylinder 11, as will be readily understood. The crank arm 18 is connected by a link 20 with the depending crank arm 21 at the end of the agitator 22 and a pitman or connecting rod 28 extends between the said crank arm 21 and a gear wheel 24 secured upon the end of a shaft 25 which is suitably journaled in the side bars 1 immediately adjacent the end of the grading cylinder. The agitator 22 con sists of a rod or shaft having its ends j ournaled in the side walls of the hopper and having its central portion offset, as shown stood.

clearly in Fig. 7 so that as the crank 21 oscillates a rocking motion will be imparted to the ends of the agitator bail so that the intermediate offset portion of the same will be caused to vibrate across the mouth of the hopper and thereby agitate the seeds so that they will be prevented from clogging and interfering with the steady evenfeed. A chain 26 is trained around the gear wheel 24 and a pinion 27 on the end of the fan shaft so that the fan will be driven from the shaft 25, as will be readily understood.

The grading cylinder consists of a series of axially alined cylindrical sections, each consist-ing 'of a body of netting or similar perforated or foraminous material, as shown at 28, and the mesh of the said cylindrical sections is increasingly coarser from the rear end adjacent the fan and the hopper to the front end which is remote from the said instrumentalities. The several cylindrical sections are formed around hoops or circular bands 29 which are secured to and carried by spiders 30 and the said spiders are secured to a shaft 31 which is mounted in the ends of the frame and is provided at its front end with a crank handle 32 by which it may be rotated. The shaft is preferably mounted in roller bearings, indicated at 33, in the ends of the frame and bafiles or heaters 34 extend longitudinally of the grading cylinder and are secured to the bands 29 so as to act upon the seed and tend to lift the same so that it will be thoroughly agitated in its passage through the cylinder andsepa rated so that it may be more effectually acted upon by the air blast. The rear end of the cylinder is constructed with a rim or annulus 35 which is adapted to bear against a friction gear or roller 36 on the shaft 25 and thereby impart motion to said shaft when the cylinder is rotated. A spring 37 is coiled around the shaft 31 between the front end of the frame and thefront end of the cylinder and bears upon the cylinder so as to h old the rim 35 at the rear end thereof in contact with the roller 36, as will be readily under- The roller bearings 33 permit the cylinder to rotate very easily and also facilitate the longitudinal movement of the shaft 31. r

The cover 12 is spaced from the grading cylinder as clearly shown in the drawings, and its front end abuts a door 38 which is normally raised so as to close the end the casing and is hinged upon the frame, as clearly shown in Figs. 2,3 and4. A closing plate 39 is provided below the shaft 31 to 7 close the lower portion of the front end of the casing and thisplateis equipped with a door 40 to facilitate access to the interior of the cylinder. A plurality of bins or com-.

partment's 41 are provided on the under side of the casing and each one of these binsor compartments is disposed below one of the cylindricalsections 0f the grading cylinder,

the upper end of the bin or compartment The beaters or bafl'les 34 are preferably T-' shaped in cross section so that they will'pre- Q sent ribs or stems to take into the body of V I seeds and cause the same to move upwardly at one side of the cylinder, dropping from V the baffles as they reach a high point and, consequently, spreading within the cylinder so as to be effectually reached by the air blast. The foraminous sections are each preferably constructed ofa single band'of material, the edges'of which are joined by a clamp 43 disposed externally to the cylinder.

At each side of the cylinder and extending the full length of the same is a shieldor cleflector 44 which extends from the sidebar to which it is secured to the side ofthe cylinder: and thereby causes the air blast to pass into the cylinder instead of merely circulating'around the same and escaping at the 7 bottom thereof. Each binwill be'provided with a sliding cutoff or door 45 which, when in closed position, willcause the seed to coll'ect in the bin or compartment and may be easily withdrawn when it is desired-to discharge the seed. 7

It is thought that the operation of the machine will be readily understood from what has gone before. The seeds to be graded are placed in the hopper 5 and the shaft 31 then rotatedby means of the crank 32 or by the application of power in any other convenient form. The rotation of the shaft 31 will be transmitted through the described mechanism so as to agitate the seed and cause the same to flow into the feedingspout or trough while an air blast will be setup by the fan and one branch of the blast will fiow through the space between the cover 12 and the grading'cylinder and thence through the grading cylinder, while the other branch of the V blast will flow past the mouth of the hopper V and so carry off any chaff and other like worthless particles which may have been collected with the seed. The screen 15 being oscillated will separate theseedto be graded 7 from the seed which is not to pass through the machine and the former .will flow from' der. The smallest seedswill pass through the first section of the cylinder and be col-,

lected in thebin beneath the same, while each succeeding section of the cylinder will per fiowingalong the upper portioniof the'cylin- V, r i

mit the escape of a larger size of seed and retain all exceeding said size. lhe seeds will thus be rapidly and positively separated and graded according to their sizes and consequent commercial value.

The machine is, obviously, simple in the construction and arrangement of its parts and may be easily operated. The parts are easily accessible for cleaning or repairing and the machine will be found highly eficient for the purpose for which it is designed.

In grading cotton seed, the screen 15 is unnecessary and may be removed but pins or rods 46 carried by the rear end of the shaft 31 are then employed so as to partly separate and loosen the masses of the seeds as they flow into the cylinder. When cotton seed is not being passed through the machine, the pins or rods 46 are removed. As shown in'Fig. 8, the ends of the rods 46 are so bent and arranged that the rods act as an auger to bore into the mass of seed and cause them to separate and overcome the adhesive force of the lint, the rotation of the rods effecting a feeding of the seed to and into the grading cylinder.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A machine for the purpose set forth comprising a foraminous cylinder, means for rotating the same, an imperforate arched cover disposed over and spaced from said cylinder. and concentric therewith, means for closing one end of the space between the Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

cover and the cylinder, deflectors extending from the longitudinal edges of the cover to the sides of the cylinder, and means for delivering an air blast at the opposite end of.

the cover into the space between the same and the cylinder.

2. A. machine for the purpose set forth comprising a supporting frame, a hopper mounted thereon, a foraminous cylinder rotatably mounted in the frame, a cover extending longitudinally above and spaced from the cylinder, a fan casing, a fan within said casing, means for rotating the fan and the cylinder, and spouts leading from the fan casing, one of said spouts directing a blast across the mouth of the hopper and the other directing a blast into the space between the cover and the cylinder.

3. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination of a supporting frame, a foraminous cylinder rotatably mounted therein and having a rim at one end, a shaft mounted transversely upon the frame adjacent said end of the cylinder, a roller mounted on said shaft and frictionally engaging said rim, means for holding the rim in engagement with said roller, means for v rotating the cylinder, a fan, a hopper, an agitator in the hopper, and means for operating said fan and said agitator from said transverse shaft.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

enovnn o. LEACH. a 8.

Washington, D. G. 

